A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



17 



forest needing it receives some protection. The ratio of actual to 

 allowable burn on private lands is about 11 to 1, that on the largest 

 area of public lands the national forests is about 1.07 to 1. 



While about 1.25 billion board feet are being cut from the national 

 forests, which include 75 percent of the publicly owned commercial 

 forest land, the possible sustained yield cut has been raised steadily. 



PUBLIC FOREST LAND 



PRIVATI FOREST LAND 



4O 60 



MILLION ACRES 



Area Under Fairly 

 Intensive Management 



Area Under Less 

 Intensive Management 



FIGURE 8. The low acreage in private ownership under some form of forest management throws public 

 accomplishment into high relief. The public total is, however, relatively small in the light of the effort 

 needed to meet national timber requirements. 



For the country as a whole, however, where the condition is dom- 

 inated by private land, the drain for timber of all sizes now exceeds 

 growth by nearly 2 to 1, while for saw timber it is 5 to 1. But 70 

 percent of the dram is still in saw timber sizes. 



FIGURE 9. Area with no forest management. While some of the large area in private ownership, which 

 contains the best timberland, may remain productive, much of it deteriorates, the forest capital is 

 reduced, and yields are less than management of any sort would produce. 



While farm woodlots ordinarily receive far less attention than any 

 other part of the farm, cutting practices have been much less destruc- 

 tive than on industrially owned lands. Isolation has been a factor in 

 much better protection. 



The remarkable recuperative power of the forest, rather than any 

 conscious effort by private owners, has been the main factor in the 



